Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids

Valentine’s Day crafts for kids are fun to make. Using salt as a form to create fun crafts, students can also learn how colors in water travel through the salt medium.

Besides salt painting crafts, other fun activities include creating Valentine’s Day love bugs. Use simple elements like paper rolls and construction paper to make characters, puppets, or fun Valentine’s crafts. 

Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids

How creative can children get with simple elements like salt and paper rolls? Even with scraps of construction paper, you can make different Valentine love bugs.

Then, you can use them as puppets, characters from a book, or simply play items. Similarly, salt painting encourages the imagination of children.

With different colors and textures, salt painting offers fine motor skills application and science learning. 

Materials for Salt Painting Valentine’s Hearts Crafts

• Salt powder
• White glue
• Construction paper
• Cardstock paper
• White, red, and black crayon
• Watercolor paints or acrylic paints
• Small container with water
• Paper towels
• Small brush

Instructions

1. Draw several hearts with different designs on the construction and cardstock papers. 
2. Use the white glue to trace the hearts. 
3. Add salt to the heart shapes. 
4. Allow the salt to dry overnight. 
5. Mix several paints on a tray or use a paper plate. 
6. Dip the brush in the paint and water to make a water based color. 
7. Then, gently dab the brush with the paint onto the dry salt. 
8. If using acrylic paints, dip the brush several times in the water to dilute the paint. 
9. Acrylic paint will result in more vibrant colors. 
10. Repeat for other heart shapes or use a variety of colors.
    Allow paints to dry. 

Materials for Love Bugs Paper Roll Crafts

• Empty toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls (3)
• Yellow, black, pink, red, purple, and white construction paper
• Chenille sticks or pipe cleaners
• Wiggly eyes
• Black and white crayons
• Glue sticks
• Safety scissors

Instructions

1. If using empty paper towel rolls, cut them into 4 inches. 
2. Warp individual rolls with yellow (bee), black (ladybug), and pink (butterfly) construction papers. 
3. Glue the seams and allow to set. 
4. For the ladybug love bug, cut a red heart. 
5. Then, cut the heart in half, representing the wings of the ladybug. 
6. Draw small black circles. 
7. Paste two wiggly eyes or draw them. 
8. Add two antennas using chenille sticks. 
9. For the bee love bug, add two pieces of black construction paper. 
10. Cut two white hearts. 
11. Paste them to the back of the bee to represent wings. 
12. Optional: add red hearts to the wings. 
13. Draw small eyes and smile. 
14. Add two antennas using chenille sticks. 
15. For the butterfly love bug, cut two purple hearts. 
16. Add small red hearts to the butterfly. 
17. Then, add the purple wings. 
18. Add two antennas using chenille sticks. 
19. Use these Valentine love bugs as finger puppets or decorations. 

Video

The videos show different ways to use paper towel rolls and salt painting to create fun Valentine’s Day crafts for kids. The love bugs are the bee, ladybug, and butterfly.

Use construction paper and simple materials to make these love bugs. The salt painting uses a combination of glue and salt to create a fun craft with various colors. 

Love Bugs Paper Roll Crafts

Salt as a Medium for Creating Crafts

In these Valentine’s Day crafts for kids, salt painting is a wonderful way to create various heart shapes. Then, you’re able to paint them to make various displays of colors.

How does the salt absorb the paints?

• When the salt (sodium chloride) dries in the white glue, a crystalline structure forms.
• This crystalline structure allows the watercolors or paints to travel from each crystal structure.
• In this way, you can create a blend of beautiful colors within the heart shapes.
• The salt crystal structure is also hygroscopic.
• This term simply means that the salt crystals absorb moisture from the air.

Other hygroscopic compounds are silicate gels, honey, and cotton. For example, silica gels absorb moisture from the air or surroundings to keep other materials dry.

Knowing these amazing properties of salt, you can create fun crafts with fantastic watercolors or acrylic paints. 

Conclusion

Valentine’s Day crafts for kids are not limited to fun cards with cute poems. You can create lessons or activities with a learning goal.

Salt painting, for example, is a wonderful activity to learn how different media can absorb colors. In the same way, creating puppets with paper rolls boosts creativity and sharpens fine motor skills.